Affection
by SugarSonic
Summary: "What's wrong, Shadow?" Her voice was delicate, like the one of a child. "Everything." He said, in a broken voice.


**Affection**

**By SugarSonic**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, SEGA does.**

* * *

That night, the moon was gleaming in all its glory in the dark sky, decorated with bright little stars. It was summer and the air emanated cozy warmth to the creatures still awake. Somewhere, in a forest facing a small cliff, a creature was, indeed, awake.

Shadow the Hedgehog was sitting on a lying trunk, found close to the cliff. He was looking up at the stars with an expression he'd never wear before. Sadness.

"It will never be the same…" He murmured to himself.

He could remember now, oh yes, he could. He could remember everything. He remembered how it was to watch stars from space and not Earth. And he knew how nice it was to have someone by his side. Someone to care for and who cared back. Someone to die for…

Shadow closed his eyes as both name and face came to his mind immediately.

"Maria…" he whispered, almost in pain, as if only her name could bring back all those memories that still won't go away.

Then, her face appeared in his mind, her delicate features and her fragile body that touched his from the very first day they had met. Maria was his first concept of loving someone like his life depended on it. And it was true; Shadow depended on Maria, for she was his only resource of affection, his only reason to smile.

Shadow's little heart was torn in two. Her beautiful smile, that he was never going to see ever again. Oh, so miserable he felt! The more he thought about it the more his body would react to it. His ears completely folded back and his back arched as if waiting for the hedgehog to roll up into a ball and cry as much as he could.

He just needed one more tiny push.

* * *

"S…Shadow?"

The black hedgehog knew who the voice belonged to, and felt the instinct to curl up even more, but he hated showing this side of him to others. So he remained silent.

Seeing no much of a reaction from Shadow, Amy Rose, who had been searching for him all evening, let out a small sigh, and walked closer to him, sitting on the trunk next to him.

Silence was awkward, so Amy leaned in and tried to see what she could do.

"What's wrong, Shadow?" Her voice was delicate, like the one of a child.

"Everything." He said, in a broken voice.

Amy studied him briefly: sad expression, wet eyes, ears folded back…it looked like he was about to have an emotional breakdown.

Shadow felt an uneasy sensation at being watched, so he shuffled slightly and looked in the other direction, "Go back home, Amy, you know how I am in these situations. The pain…is unbearable."

Amy had a serious expression on her face, determined, "I understand how you feel, but—"

"No! You don't understand! None of you does!"

The pink hedgehog bit her lip, "Okay, we don't know, that's true. But all that happened is in the past, it's gone!"

A single tear rolled down Shadow's cheek, "But it hurts…"

Amy stared.

"It hurts because…_she_'s gone." His voice cracked at the end of the sentence. Shadow sniffed lightly and continued, "Maria was everything for me. Everything. She was my angel."

"Shadow, Maria was everything for you and you were everything for her. But what about us, Shadow? You are everything to us as well," she stopped, "You are everything for me."

Shadow's eyes shot open.

"We're friends, a family. We love you, Shadow, can't you see? I love you."

At that point, Shadow couldn't hold it any longer; he fell on his knees and started sobbing. Sobbing and crying. For everything he had lost and for being deprived of all childhood things like love, affection, family, friends. Things that he had now under his very nose and hadn't noticed so far.

And that's when Amy embraced him in a hug, a friendly hug or a hug of affection. She pulled him close and stroked the quills on his head, just like Maria used to do.

Shadow cried in her neck and he too embraced her like he had always wanted to do. She was crying as well, but stayed silent as to not ruin his moment.

* * *

By the time they were done crying, Shadow was out like a light.

Amy sighed in relief; that was a tough one. She turned her head when she heard the voice of their friends calling for them. With a smile, Amy turned her gaze back to the little black fur-ball in her lap. She moved it gently to the trunk and got up, ready to tell the exciting news to her friends, when a hand caught her dress, tugging it lightly. She looked back and saw Shadow, curled up on the trunk, looking at her.

Amy smiled and kneeled so she was eye level with him, "Yes?"

Shadow's muzzle was hidden beneath his arm but she managed to catch what he said under his breath, "I love you, Amy."

The pink hedgehog was a bit surprised, but smiled back with all the affection she had in her heart and replied, "I love you too, Shadow."

She leaned in to kiss him on the forehead, got up back again, and ran to tell the friends.

Shadow uncurled from his position and sat up on the trunk, looking at the sky once again; a star was shining like no other star in the sky.

For a moment, it flashed.

Shadow smiled, "I love you too, Maria."

_FIN_

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**AN: Okay, there's not much to say and there's a lot to say. First, I never leave Author Notes unless they're extremely necessary. So please read. Secondly, in my country right now it's 6 in the morning, I was awake all night to write this because I had an emotional breakdown after dinner and didn't want to go to bed afterwards. So, I'm sorry, but this fic doesn't make any sense at all, I know. It's poorly written, the plot is stupid and the characters are OOC. I know all of that (Yay for self-review). I wrote that because I needed to let it out somehow, and writing does help in situations like this. Also, this isn't really a romance fic, it's more like...love shared with friends and family, dunno how to explain. It was difficult for me to write this. Okay, I'll stop here otherwise I'll just be boring. You can comment if you want, say it sucks, whatever you wish, I don't care. I let it out; it's a piece of me I want to share anyway, even if it sucks. Probably I'll remove it afterwards if nobody likes it, cause I surely don't. Thanks for reading!**


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